''Simon'' is a 1980 American
comedy film
The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...
written and directed by
Marshall Brickman
Marshall Jacob Brickman (August 25, 1939 – November 29, 2024) was an American screenwriter and director, best known for his collaborations with Woody Allen, with whom he shared the 1977 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for ''Annie ...
and starring
Alan Arkin
Alan Wolf Arkin (March 26, 1934 – June 29, 2023) was an American actor, filmmaker and musician. In a career spanning seven decades, he received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Tony A ...
. The plot concerns a university professor manipulated into thinking he is an alien from space by a think tank, whose members scheme to use him to create a media circus.
Plot
The Institute for Advanced Concepts is a
think tank
A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
composed of five scientists with an unlimited budget and a propensity for fabricating national hysterias. The five hatch a plan to trick a man into thinking he is of
extraterrestrial origin through
brainwashing
Brainwashing is the controversial idea that the human mind can be altered or controlled against a person's will by manipulative psychological techniques. Brainwashing is said to reduce its subject's ability to think critically or independently ...
and, using their talking computer "Doris" to conduct a national search, settle on a psychology professor named Simon Mendelssohn, who was abandoned at birth and is trying to perform an experiment with an
isolation tank
An isolation tank, sensory deprivation tank, float tank, float pod, float cabin, flotation tank, or sensory attenuation tank is a water filled, pitch-black, light-proof, soundproof environment heated to the same temperature as the skin.
Method ...
. At the institute, Simon is submerged in an isolation tank of their own and, after an extended time, emerges in a weakened mental state that causes him to reenact the entire history of
evolution
Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...
of life on Earth from a single-celled organism to a modern man. While Simon is in this state, the scientists plant a hypnotic suggestion that his mother is an alien spaceship and that he was made as a machine rather than being born naturally. The five then put their plan to create a mass hysteria into action by broadcasting Simon's ramblings, which include a number of proposals to reform
American culture
The culture of the United States encompasses various social behaviors, institutions, and Social norm, norms, including forms of Languages of the United States, speech, American literature, literature, Music of the United States, music, Visual a ...
. When they decide Simon has become too dangerous as a result of his newfound celebrity status, they call in the military to kill him, but his girlfriend Lisa comes to his rescue.
As the couple goes on the run, Lisa tries to remind Simon that he is an ordinary human. Along the way, they encounter a commune that worships a television, which they call the "magic box", and have no concept of disliking anything they watch. The founder of the commune used to work for the
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast Television broadcaster, television and radio Radio network, network that serves as the flagship property of the Disney Entertainment division ...
and so has a truck with a high-powered TV transmitter. The military soon locates the origins of Simon's
hijacked TV signals, forcing the couple to flee once again. In doing so, Lisa finally convinces Simon that he is human when she tells him she is pregnant with his child.
Dr. Becker, head of the institute, blames the release of a gas that takes a hundred points off the
IQs of the other scientists on Simon. As the four are acting childish, Becker and the military commander arrange a rocket launch to get rid of Simon, supposedly by sending him home to his planet but really by just launching him into space without a destination. Simon calls and turns himself in, and Becker, thinking he is fooled, accompanies him to the rocket. Simon overpowers Becker, straps him into the rocket seat, and escapes in a
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
uniform as Becker is launched into space.
Simon and Lisa are last seen having settled down in Canada with their child, where they plan to live in peace and obscurity despite the American media continuing to search for Simon. A radio broadcast informs Lisa that Simon has just won the
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...
for his suggestions in his broadcasts to improve American life, such as prohibiting anyone from replacing towels with blow-drying machines in public restrooms.
Cast
In addition,
Fred Gwynne
Frederick Hubbard Gwynne (July 10, 1926 – July 2, 1993) was an American actor, artist and author, who is widely known for his roles in the 1960s television sitcoms '' Car 54, Where Are You?'' (as Francis Muldoon) and '' The Munsters'' (as Herm ...
plays Korey, while
David Susskind
David Howard Susskind (December 19, 1920 – February 22, 1987) was an American producer of TV, movies, and stage plays and also a TV talk show host. His talk shows were innovative in the genre and addressed timely, controversial topics beyond th ...
and
Dick Cavett
Richard Alva Cavett (; born November 19, 1936) is an American television personality and former talk show host. He appeared regularly on nationally broadcast television in the United States from the 1960s through the 2000s.
In later years, Cave ...
both appear in cameos as themselves.
Reception
''Simon'' received mixed reviews from critics. On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film holds a rating of 60% from 20 reviews.
Gene Siskel
Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert.
Siskel started writing for the '' ...
of the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, saying that the film is "neither a funny nor insightful film. In fact, 'Simon' is a scattershot mess." Both he and
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
of the ''
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
'' gave the film two "no" votes on their show ''
Sneak Previews
''Sneak Previews'' (1975 to 1996: known as ''Opening Soon...at a Theater Near You'' from 1975 to 1977, and ''Sneak Previews Goes Video'' from 1989 to 1991) is an American film review show that ran for over two decades on the Public Broadcasting ...
''.
Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin () is an American film and music critic. Rabin was the first head writer for ''The A.V. Club'', a position he held until he left the ''Onion'' organization in 2013. , in a 2012 review for ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'', rated ''Simon'' a B−, stating that the film "is riddled with moments of genius, yet shows only an intermittent interest in harnessing all that brainy inspiration into a satisfying narrative...
's too scattered".
Awards
At the
8th Saturn Awards
The 8th Saturn Awards, honoring the best in science fiction, fantasy and horror film in 1980, were held in July 1981.
Winners and nominees
Below is a complete list of nominees and winners. Winners are highlighted in bold.
Film awards
Speci ...
, Alan Arkin was nominated for the
Saturn Award for Best Actor
The Saturn Award for Best Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films to honor performances in the genre across film, television, and video. The Saturn Awards were devised by historian Dr. Dona ...
.
Home video availability
In 1981 and 1990, the film was released on
VHS
VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s.
Ma ...
format by Warner Home Video and is now out of print. A remastered copy of the film was released via Warner Archives' Made To Order DVD-R service in 2011 in its original widescreen 16×9 (1.85:1) format.
References
External links
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{{Marshall Brickman
1980 films
1980 comedy films
1980 science fiction films
1980s English-language films
1980s satirical films
1980s science fiction comedy films
Films set in Columbia University
American political satire films
American science fiction comedy films
Films directed by Marshall Brickman
Films produced by Martin Bregman
Films with screenplays by Marshall Brickman
Orion Pictures films
Warner Bros. films
1980s American films
English-language science fiction comedy films